Washington – A group representing small businesses is suing thePentagon and Sikorsky for information about the defense contractor's hiring ofsmall and minority businesses as subcontractors.

The Sonoma,Calif.-based American Small Business League says the information it has soughtfrom Sikorsky will show the Pentagon has for decades falsified the volume ofsubcontracts that have been awarded to small businesses.

The league's lawsuitstems from it's efforts to obtain information about Sikorsky's participation ina Defense Department program aimed at increasing subcontracting opportunitiesfor small businesses.

In April of 2014, theAmerican Small Business League filed a freedom of information request for theannual report submitted by Sikorsky and about a dozen large defense contractorsthat participate in the Pentagon's Comprehensive Subcontracting Plan TestProgram. By law, federal agencies are obligated to award a portion – currently23 percent – of their contracts to small businesses and those owned by women orother disadvantaged groups.

Sikorsky initiallydeclined to provide the information, but eventually was forced to do so by afederal judge.

Despite being orderedto release an un-redacted copy of the requested documents, Sikorsky onlysupplied the court with a heavilyredacted version and appealed the judge's order to the California-based 9^thCircuit Court of Appeals. A trial date of Dec. 11 has been set for the case.

The redacted documentblacked out all names and addresses of the helicopter makers' subcontractors.Sikorsky projected spending more than $913 million on large subcontractors and$272 million on small businesses and those owned by women, veterans andminorities.

Sikorsky, purchased byLockheed Martin in late 2015, said it could not divulge details of itssubcontractors because that would put it at a competitive disadvantage withother defense companies.

"At Lockheed Martin oursuppliers are integral partners in delivering our products and services to ourcustomers," said Sikorsky spokesman Paul Jackson. "Sikorsky is an activeparticipant in the Comprehensive Subcontracting Plan Test Program and hascomplied with all small business requirements under the Department of Defense'sguidelines."

Jackson also saidSikorsky's Comprehensive Small Business Plan "is competition sensitive" and wasrecognized as such by the appeals court.

"We will continue towork with the Department of Defense to ensure that our rights under FOIA areprotected," Jackson said.

The business leagueargues that  Sikorsky's contracts with the government are "solesource" contracts and Sikorsky has no competitors for their Pentagonbusiness.

Headed by smallbusiness advocate Lloyd Chapman, the American Small Business League isskeptical that the Pentagon's Comprehensive Subcontracting Plan Test Programactually helps small business.

In a recent op-ed,Chapman said the CSPTP "was designed to eliminate all transparency for thePentagon's largest prime contractors."

Chapman said the CSPTPalso eliminated all penalties that defense contractors may face fornon-compliance with federal small business contracting goals.

Witnesses at December'strial include Janice Buffler, Department of Defense associate director ofsubcontracting policy; Andrew Driver, Sikorsky Aircraft senior manager ofmarket analytics; Amy Johnson, Sikorsky director of supply chain;and Martha Crawford, Sikorsky supplier diversity manager.

For the full article,click here: https://ctmirror.org/2017/08/14/pentagon-sikorsky-sued-over-small-business-contracts/

PETALUMA, CA--(Marketwired - June 21, 2017) -Datafrom the Federal Procurement Data System compiled by Rockville,Maryland-based Fedmine, found the Small Business Administration includedfederal contracts to over 5,000 large businesses in the $99.96 billion the SBAclaimed were awarded to small businesses.

The SBA's small business data also includedbillions in federal contracts that actually went to over 150 Fortune 500 firms.

Some of the firms that have received federalsmall business contracts in recent years include, Apple, Walmart, Microsoft, Home Depot, Bechtel, SAIC,Raytheon, Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, IBM, Johnson and Johnson, General Electric, NorthropGrumman, Honda Motors, British Aerospace and Engineering and Rolls Royce.

The Fedmine report indicates the SBAdramatically inflated the volume and percentage of federal contracts awarded tolegitimate small businesses.

Ina May 18th, press release the SBA claimed small businesses had received$99.96 billion in federal contracts and 24.34 percent of all federal contractsawarded in fiscal year 2016.

Data from the Congressional Budget Officeindicates the SBA also significantly inflated the percentage of awards to smallbusinesses by excluding the vast majority of federal acquisitions from theircalculations.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reportsthe total federal acquisition budget for 2016 was $1.2trillion. The Small Business Act mandates small businesses receive aminimum of 23%of all federal contracts.

Small businesses should have received 23percent of the $1.2 trillion in contracts the federal government actuallyawarded in 2016 which would be approximately $276 billion. To claim smallbusinesses received 24.34 percent of all federal contracts in FY 2016, the SBAexcluded over $790 billion in contracts and used an acquisition budget numberof just $410 billion.

Every year since 2005 the SBA Office ofInspector General has named the diversion of federal small business contractsto large businesses as the number one management problem at the SBA. Asearly as 2003the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found over 5,300 largebusinesses were the actual recipients of federal small business contracts.

In 2008, President Obama released thestatement, "It is timeto end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants."

Professor Charles Tiefer, one of the nation'sleading authorities on federal procurement law and a contributor to Forbes releasedan article on June 5, 2017 challenging the accuracy of the SBA'sstatistics.

In 2014, Public Citizen released aninvestigative report titled "Sleighted",that found the SBA had fabricated compliance with federal small businesscontracting goals. In 2016, Mother Jones released their investigative reporttitled, "GiantCorporations Are Reaping Billions From Federal Small Business Contracts."

ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, Fox News and RTTV have all releasedinvestigative reports that found the SBA included billions in federal smallbusiness contracts to Fortune 500 firms.

The American Small Business League (ASBL) hasfiled for a federalinjunction to stop the SBA from falsifying federal small business data. Thecase is currently in the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals.

For the full press release, click here: http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/-2222981.htm

PETALUMA, CA--(Marketwired - June 21, 2017) -According to the American Small Business League, Professor CharlesTiefer has been widely recognized as one of the nation's leading experts ongovernment contracting, federal contracting law and legislation. He is aProfessor of Law at the University of Baltimore School of Law.

Professor Tiefer has writtenseveral legalopinions that challenge the accuracy of small business contracting datareleased by the Small Business Administration. He has now written an articletitled, "TrumpAdministration Fails At Creating Jobs By Missing Small Business ContractTargets". The article was published on Forbes.com and points out theSBA significantly inflated government small business data by including billionsin federal contracts to Fortune 500 firms in the volume of contracts the SBAclaimed were awarded to small businesses.

OnMay 18^th, the SmallBusiness Administration released their report for fiscal year 2016 claimingsmall businesses received $99.96 billion in federal contracts and 24.34 percentof all federal contracts in 2016.

In his article, ProfessorTiefer states, "Of the $99.96 billion the SBA claimed went to smallbusinesses, it appears no more than 50% of that number went to firms thatcurrently legally qualify as small businesses. In reality, legitimate smallbusinesses may well have received no more than $50 billion in federal contractsand subcontracts in FY 2016. That would come out to just mid-single digitpercentages of the full level of federal acquisitions for FY 2016, a far cryfrom the 24.34 percent claimed by the SBA."

Tiefer also accuses the SBA of excluding themajority of federal acquisitions from their calculations in claiming smallbusinesses received 24.34 percent of all federal contracts. He states,"First, the SBA is counting federal acquisitions for FY 2016 at around$410 billion. That is an artificial and unconvincing low figure. I have writtenin the past that the actual figure is more than double that."

Professor Tieferserved as solicitor and deputy general counsel of the U.S. House ofRepresentatives for 11 years. He also served as Commissioner on theCongressionally chartered, federal Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraqand Afghanistan from 2008 - 2011.

For the full press release, click here: http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/-2222982.htm

Americantaxpayers are being bamboozled by their government to the tune of at least atrillion dollars, says a small business advocate and long-time critic of theSmall Business Administration.

LloydChapman, founder of the American Small Business League, says even without fulldisclosure by the government, the SBA's own figures point to something rottenin government contracting.

"Ithink we're going to uncover … trillions in fraud," Mr. Chapman says. "Notmillions, not billions, but trillions."

Hesays data from the Congressional Budget Office and the Federal Procurement DataSystem indicate the Small Business Administration falsified the federalgovernment's compliance with the 23 percent small business contracting goal forfiscal year 2016.

Mr.Chapman points to a May 18 press release in which the SBA claimed smallbusinesses had received $99.96 billion in federal contracts and 24.34 percentof all federal contracts awarded in fiscal year 2016.

TheSmall Business Act mandates small businesses receive a minimum of 23 percent ofall federal contracts.

Here'swhere Mr. Chapman's arithmetic differs from the SBA's: The Congressional BudgetOffice reports the total federal acquisition budget for 2016 was $1.2 trillion.

Hesays 23 percent of the $1.2 trillion the federal government actually awarded incontracts for fiscal year 2016 would be approximately $276 billion.

Toreach its number, the SBA had to exclude $790 billion in federal contracts fromtheir calculations, Mr. Chapman says.

Mr. Chapman says the only way toget the federal government to listen seems to be to clonk it over the head withfederal lawsuits – which he has done numerous times.

"I've got a trial against thePentagon [on] December 11 of this year," he says of his latest lawsuit. Hecontends that much of the tax dollars supposedly going to small business hasactually been funneled into large corporations and even foreign firms,including a Russian arms seller.

For the full story, click here: http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=32802